Returned
by Litzana
Summary: What happens when the Thief returns and no-one is there to stop him? No yaoi. Rated 'T' for possible violence.
1. And so, we begin

What happens when the Thief returns, and no-one is there to stop him?

_The cast of Yu-Gi-Oh and Yu-Gi-Oh GX bring you:_

**_Returned_**

_Chapter One; Introductions_

* * *

"Uh… Headmaster?"

A groan.

"Headmaster! There's a call on the videophone for you!"

"Mmkay…"

Now, the room comes into focus. It looks like a study of sorts; the walls display photographs, on the desk is a selection of trinkets and behind the desk a cabinet containing a multitude of trophies is bolted to the wall.

The man owning the study is slumped behind the desk; it looks like he's fallen asleep on the job. Our gaze turns to the photographs on the wall; one stands out in the centre of the others. It is of eight youths; about sixteen in age. One is younger than the others; his black hair flops over his eyes as he sits on the shoulders of his tall, brown-haired brother. Two other sixteen-year old boys stand at the shoulders of another, shorter boy with wild tricoloured hair. A black-haired, green-eyed boy has his arms around the only girl in the picture, a brunette who seemed to be laughing as she snuggled up to him.

And the final person in the picture? Another boy, with white hair that cascaded down his shoulders in natural spikes. His chocolate-brown eyes looked slightly embarrassedly at the camera as he fiddled with a brown messenger bag slung over his shoulder.

Our gaze turns now to the trophy cabinet. Two large trophies dominate the space – a shield with the engraving 'Tri-school championship'. This year it was won by Slypher Primary Duelling School.

The second trophy: 'Domino City under-fifteens tournament'. This year won by 'Y. Bakura'.

The trinkets on the desk were just small things; a little model of a Blue-Eyes White Dragon, A small silver cartouche on a chain and a conical golden spike with a loop on the top, which looks like it used to be part of something else.

"I swear… Headmaster! Mister Bakura!"

The man woke up, his brushing his white hair back from his clean-shaven face. Chocolate-brown eyes looked up at the woman who'd burst into his office. "Uh… I'm sorry, Miss Takato, I was…"

"Asleep. Yes. Mister Kaiba wants to talk to you; he's been patiently waiting on the videophone for you to finish your afternoon nap."

"Kaiba!?" The man stood, pushing back his chair and accidentally hitting his knee on the edge of the desk. "Ouch…"

Miss Takato, his secretary, smiled and opened the door as her superior rushed out. He was a very good headmaster; a little absentminded sometimes, but that was why he had her to do his paperwork for him.

"_Ah. So Sleeping Beauty finally wakes."_

"Seto! It's been ages; how are you, old friend?"

Seto Kaiba grimaced. _"The usual."_

"You need a break, Seto. Work is getting to you again. You know what Kisa will say if she hears you've been overnighting again." And, indeed, Kaiba's face was slightly pasty, and he had dark rings under his eyes.

"_I'm thirty-nine years old, Bakura; I don't need a break at this time of life. And don't even think about going to my wife; she's got enough to deal with, with Seth on the way."_

"Oh, so it's a boy?"

Kaiba grinned. _"Yes. We found out last week. That's why I've been working so hard; I need to set an example to him."_

"Oh, come on." Bakura smiled. "Surely you can let Mokuba take over sometimes?"

"_He's not cut out to be CEO. I know it sounds a little harsh, but he isn't. He prefers to work in the development sector, not admin. He never had the stomach for paperwork." _Kaiba coughed slightly as he said this. _"Anyway. To business. You've heard of my Duel Academy, yes?"_

"Yes…"

"_The head of Slifer Red house, Midori Hibiki, was taken ill yesterday. She fell into an unexplained coma, much like your old school friends did twenty-three years ago, Bakura."_

Bakura paled. "Uh… I can assure you it wasn't me, Kaiba…"

"_Don't bother. I know it wasn't you. I've been handed the task of finding a replacement for her."_

"What does that have to do with me?"

Kaiba raised an eyebrow at him, his sapphire-blue eyes sparkling._ "Think about it, Bakura. You were always the intelligent one."_

"You mean… _me_?"

Kaiba frowned. "_The only reason I'm asking you is because you're the only Ranked Duelist left with the needed qualifications. "_

"What about Yugi? Or Serenity? Serenity's got the required qualifications…"

"_Serenity isn't ranked in the top twenty, and Yugi flatly refuses. It's only temporary, Bakura, until Midori recovers."_

"But… What about my school?"

"_I'm sure your secretary can do a good enough job without you. Bakura, you're my last hope."_

"I'm still not sure I can…"

"_You'll get paid twice what your Board of Governors pays you."_

"Uh…"

Seto flushed. _"Bakura, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity!"_

Bakura sighed. "Alright, fine. But, on one condition."

"_What?"_

"I get to bring my son."

Seto's eyes widened, and then he nodded. _"I'll send a copter to pick you up on Sunday."_

"Great."

The vidphone blinked out.

_Drrrring!_

The bell rang, signalling the end of the day. Bakura ducked back into his office as a flood of students began to flow past the secretaries desk and out through the main doors of the school.

Except one.

A white-haired fourteen-year old with piercing green eyes, wearing the school uniform of red and black, knocked on the headmasters office door, shifting his dueldisk on his arm as he did so. The door swung open, and Bakura hurriedly stood up from where he'd been tidying his desk.

"Yami! I thought you'd arrive soon. How was your day?"

"Fine, dad." The boy – we now know he's called Yami – shifted his messenger bag on his shoulder as he walked across the room to hug his father. Bakura hugged him back, before sweeping a pile of papers into a drawer.

"Just give me a minute, and I'll drive you home."

"Sure, dad." Yami sat on the desk as his dad bustled around him, clearing his drawers and picking up the trinkets off his desk.

"I'll help, Dad!" Yami jumped off the desk and picked up the gold cone-shaped object. He then stiffened as something inside it gave him a small shock.

Bakura didn't see this; he was busy stacking up some loose sheets of paper. If he had looked up, he'd have seen the shadow that passed over the eyes of his son at that moment.

* * *

Wahey! I thought I'd post this because, you know, what the heck.

Reviews?


	2. The King has returned!

_The cast of Yu-Gi-Oh and Yu-Gi-Oh GX bring you:_

**_Returned_**

_Chapter Two; the King has returned!_

* * *

The small powder blue Mini carefully negotiated the winding backstreets of Domino City. Bakura, behind the wheel, grinned into the mirror at his son in the backseat.

"So, what did you do today, Yami?"

His son was looking down at his lap, his fringe hanging over his face, obscuring his eyes. "I… Duelled. I beat Kristina Williams. She was easy – Her deck is no match for my dragons."

The flatness in his voice surprised Bakura, but he put it down to tiredness. After all, his son had stayed up all night attempting to improve his deck.

"It was good of Kaiba to give you those boosters for your birthday, huh?"

"Yeah."

The car pulled into the driveway of Bakura's small suburban house. He pulled out his key, inserting it into the lock and opening the door on the empty house.

Yami got out the car and waked in after him, heading straight for his room. This wasn't unusual – Bakuras son always spent an hour or two on his homework while his father cooked tea.

While Bakura bustled around the kitchen, he thought back to his schooldays. He'd been truly happy there… And then he'd gone onto college, and met Ellen.

She was the most beautiful girl he'd ever met, bar none.

He'd left college, and in a fit of love sustained by his rapidly beating heart, he'd proposed to her.

She had accepted, and they had married the following spring.

A few years later, she'd borne him a child – a beautiful boy, who looked like him, but with his mothers' eyes.

Ellen had died in childbirth, only surviving long enough to tell him their sons name – 'Yami' – and to ask him to bring their son up happy.

The smell of burning filled his nostrils, and Bakura shook himself out of his memories to rescue the pasta bake he'd prepared.

OOO

_It had been so long. Sooo long… Not as long as the initial wait, but long enough._

_He gathered the tattered shards of himself together and began to form a new plan, while the final piece of himself waited in the last remnant of Millennium Magic._

_His host had been too soft. He had wanted something to remind him of the damage his Yami had caused, to remind him of the adventures he had had with his only true friends._

_He had been only too willing to comply. He had separated one of the prongs of the Millennium Ring from the whole, and created a convincing enough fake so that Yugi and his friendship brigade would not know the difference._

_And then he had hidden the real prong in a place where only his host would be able to find it._

_And he had waited._

_And then – the host had found it! But he was still too weak to transfer his consciousness into him._

_He has gathered his strength still more. Sixteen years, he had gathered his strength, until now he was strong enough to reconnect with the tiny sliver of him that remained in the mortal world._

_All he had to do was wait, until his host touched the Item fragment._

_And then – he had._

_Or, at least, someone who was very much like his host had._

_He had used their energy to bring himself back._

OOO

_Bibeep – Bibeep – Bibeep_

The vidphone in the living room went off, and Yami went to answer it. His dad was still in the kitchen, and the stereo was on full blast.

He fiddled with the conical object he'd taken from his dad's desk earlier. He'd forgotten to give it back, and it had stayed in his pocket.

"Hello?"

The image of a man appeared on the screen. He looked tall, he had amethyst eyes and his hair stuck up in a star shape, with a blonde fringe and streaks in his hair.

"_Ryou?" _The man looked slightly incredulous as he brushed his yellow bangs out of his eyes.

"No, I'm Yami. You probably want my dad. Hang on."

As the boy left the range of the screen, Yami looked to his left. _"Yami…" _He whispered.  
_"You WHAT!?" _A loud voice with a distinctive Brooklyn accent came from off-screen. The man nodded.

Bakura rushed into the living room, his son trailing behind him. "Yugi!"

"_Ryou! How are you, old friend?"_

"I'm fine. Brilliant, in fact! How come you never called?"

Yugi flushed slightly. _"I… Uh…"_

"_Lost yer number." _Another person muscled their way onto the screen – instantly recognisable as Joey. He'd grown his hair long, and it hung past his shoulders now, but those same brown, determined eyes gave him away.

"Joey!" Ryou was delighted. After all, he'd thought his school friends had forgotten him.

"_Hey, Ryou. You're lookin' well."_

"And you, too. I heard you'd gotten with Mai?"

"_Yeah…" _Joey sighed. _"But it ain't going well. I think Mai's been seeing somebody else. How'd ya know, anyway?"_

"Kaiba. _He_ didn't lose my number. In fact, he headhunted me after college to give me a job."

"_Really? What job?"_

"Headmaster of one of his duelling primaries."

Yugi's face fell. _"Oh. He asked me, of course, but I refused. I never had the patience or the discipline to run a school."_

"Dad?" Yami tugged at his father's sleeve. "Dad, who are they?"

Ryou grinned. "Yami, allow you to introduce Yugi and Joey. They're old school friends."

Yami looked at Yugi, wide eyed. Yugi grinned at him. "Dad, you never told me you were friends with _Yugi Mutoh_!"

"I guessed it must have slipped my mind." Ryou grinned at Yugi.

"_It's great to meet you… Yami."_

Ryou noticed Yugi's hesitation. "My wife named him. I had nothing to do with it."

"_You have a wife?"_

"She… died. In childbirth."

"_Ah."_

The awkward silence was broken by Joey clearing his throat. _"Anyway, Yugi, the reason we called…"_

"_Oh, yes. Thank you for reminding me, Joey. Ryou, I called because I'm holding a school reunion this coming Saturday."_

Ryou began to panic. "What, everyone?"

"_All of our friends, yes. We thought we'd invite you… in person, if you get my drift."_

Joey grinned. _"That's a yes, then?"_

Ryou sighed. "If I must…"

Yugi grinned. _"Great! Family is welcome too, so if you want to bring Yami you're more than welcome." _

"Thanks, Yugi." Ryou grinned as the vidphone clicked off.

Then he sagged slightly. "A school reunion… Oh, dear… How can I face them after what I did…?"

Yami put a hand on his fathers arm. "The souls weren't your fault, surely?"

Ryou flinched away from his son. "How do you… I never told you…"

A chuckle. Ryou remembered that chuckle. He still heard it in his nightmares. "Oh, dear. And I was doing so _well…_"

Deep green eyes darkened to blood-red. The Spirit that had lived in the Millennium Puzzle looked up at his former host, and grinned.

"I must say, it is good to be back. I rather missed the feel of a knife in my hand…"

Ryou was out of the chair and flat against the wall so fast he was a blur. "Get away from me…"

The Spirit touched the Item Fragment in his pocket and Ryou felt his muscles locking in place. He tried to move, and then found he couldn't. "What… Stop…"

"You see, boy, a teenage body is all very well, but when there's an older, stronger, more influential body for the taking, well…"

He walked up to his former host and grinned, taking the Item Fragment out of his pocket and pressing it into Ryou's limp hand.

"What are you doing?"

"Relax. This will only take a second…"

A black smoke began to funnel from Yami's mouth, enveloping Ryou in a black haze. Ryou shut his eyes and mouth, trying not to breathe, but the smoke was forcing itself into him, suffocating him, he couldn't breathe, he was going to die…

* * *

Cliffie!

^^ I know, I'm evil.

Now.

'Bakura uses a knife. Chuck Norris uses a roundhouse kick to the face. If the two were ever to meet, the universe would implode.'

Yay for Chuck Norris quotes!

Review?


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